Hannity Defends Ted Nugent's Death Threats on Obama

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally The Carpetbagger Report

As a rule, writing about Ted Nugent is a bit like writing about Ann Coulter -- they're both ridiculous clowns who say stupid things to get attention. My better instincts tell me to ignore them.

But once in a while, there's a reason to highlight their stupidity. Take Ted Nugent's latest outburst, for example.

"I was in Chicago last week, I said, 'Hey Obama, you might want to suck on one of these, you punk!' Obama, he's a piece of sh*t and I told him to suck on my machine gun! Let's hear it for them. I was in New York and I said, 'Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.' And since I'm in California, how about Barbara Boxer? She might want to suck on my machine gun! Hey, Dianne Feinstein, ride one of these, you worthless whore!"

First, let's keep the context in mind. Nugent was something of a star in the '70s, but more recently, he's become a proud Republican activist who, oddly enough, routinely appears on Fox News, writes for the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and has even been recruited to run for public office under the GOP flag. (Now would, of course, be the ideal time for Bill O'Reilly to remind us that Daily Kos is a "hate site" because a few anonymous commenters wrote some intemperate remarks.)

Second, Nugent's remarks actually made the rounds fairly quickly. I naively expected conservatives to respond by a) ignoring Nugent's comments; or b) gingerly distancing themselves from the nut. I didn't expect Sean Hannity to defend Nugent and excuse the borderline-threatening remarks, but that's exactly what he did on Friday night. (via Digby)

Oh my.